The Power in Your Mouth

I remember growing up, when as a child being teased my parents would say, “Sticks and stones may break your bones,but words can never hurt you.” That was a lie! Unfortunately, many of us may have also told our children that lie while attempting to shield them from the hurt of the teasing. Those deceptions weren’t intentional. I’m a parent so I understand wanting to protect my kids, but I am very aware as an adult of the impact and damage that words cause.

Proverbs 18:21 states that “death and life are in the power of the tongue.” So, our words are either life or death. Even when we speak to our children, our words help mold and shape them to who they become. If your words are abusive, the trauma may strip them of their self-esteem, create self-doubt and self-hatred. This verbal abuse also doesn’t usually end here as a child, it may contribute to be an abuser or accepting abuse in their future relationships. It may also lead to them verbally abusing their children. This is an example of the familiar phrase “hurt people hurt people”. There are so many people broken by the words that were spoken to them. We all have a duty to evaluate the words we speak in ourpersonal, professional and social settings to become beacons of light and life.

One of the definitions given to the word “death” is the destruction or permanent end of something. One of the meanings of “destruction” is a cause of someone’s ruin. So, if your words are damaging and negatively impacts another you are killing someone with the power in your mouth. Now, lets look at the word life. One of the definitions of “life” is vitality, vigor, or energy. Vitality means the state of being strong and active while “vigor” means physical strength and good health as well as effort, energy, and enthusiasm. So, when you speak life your words deliver good energy and strength.

Be aware of the life and death we speak over our own lives. Many of us beat ourselves up, sabotage good opportunities, don’t forgive ourselves for mistakes among other things which cause us to recklessly speak negativity into our personal lives and situations. We are unaware that the words we speak becomes the house we live in.

Take the time to reflect and acknowledge that being too quick to speak out of our feelings and temporary emotions will either produce life or death. We didn’t know that we were gifted with so much power and our mouths are one of our power tools! Understand the power that you possess, there is power in your mouth, use it wisely!